Harry Potter and the Leopard's Flight
by hpw2210
Summary: What if an inherited item came to Harry on his sixteenth birthday, but he didn't let anyone know on the recommendation of the ancestors he got it from? Something to make the exit from Privet Drive so much safer than polyjuice, brooms, thestrals, and a flying motorbike?


**Harry Potter is owned by J K Rowling, not me. Shame that.**

"So – what's the plan?"

Harry Potter, soon to be 17 year old wizard addressed the motley collection of his friends and members of the Order of the Phoenix in the bare living room of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

Several seconds passed by in silence, before Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody gave a gruff, gravelly laugh, and provided the answer;

"The plan, Potter, is to polyjuice these six to be decoys for you" here Moody waved a hand in the direction of six people who were each looking at Harry slightly uneasily, Fleur Delacour the most so "then you seven dress in matching clothes" here a pile of what looked to be duplicates of the clothes he had washed and hung to dry the day before were tossed at his feet "and finally we depart en masse and each Potter and their escort fly to their portkey point. Questions?"

"That's ridiculous. Why don't I polyjuice as some random muggle and catch the bus? At least that way we won't get slaughtered!" Harry retort came with a force that none of those present expected, least of all Hermione Granger

"Well I admit it's dangerous Harry, but I really don't see any way to get you out of here without the decoys. Honestly, Harry, your idea is nice, but on foot your disguise would be spotted immediately! We have to do it this way, it's been planned for over a month – you do remember how long it takes polyjuice to brew? Now, come here!"

With this she stepped forward and attempted to grab a strand of his hair. Having played seeker on the Griffindor quiddich team since he was 11 years old however, Harry's reflexes easily outmatched those of the bushy haired brunette. Maintaining a firm, but not painful grip of her wrist, Harry appeared to all present to concede the point;

"Okay, alright Hermione, but I'll pull my own hair, please. Mad-eye, could you pass me the flask?"

"Alright, here you go. Now come on, we don't want to give them more time to group up?"

As he said this Moody passed the flask of polyjuice potion to Harry, who released Hermione's hand and took a few steps backward. Once out of anyone's reach though, Harry acted fast – he was not going to have people go with this retarded plan if he could prevent it!

Quick as a flash, he dropped to the floor and tore a ball of fur from the carpet. Before anyone could stop him, this was deposited into the flask.

"What the bloody hell?"

"Potter! No! …Dammit!"

"HARRY! NO!"

Various exclamations and expletives were shouted at the boy-who-seemingly-didn't-want-to-play-ball. Fortunately although a certain paranoid ex-Auror drew his wand and had it trained on Harry in an instant, nobody was hexed.

"Oops." The nonchalant reply flummoxed the gathered witches and wizards. Even Hermione didn't speak, though her mouth continued to move slowly through a silent admonishment. "Okay, new plan. Follow me into the garage." With this, Harry turned on his heel and walked away through the kitchen and the door which led to the one time home of Vernon Dursley's prized automobile.

After a brief glance at each other, three witches, nine wizards, and one half-giant followed him.

Jaws dropped at the sight that met Harry's would-be escorts as they entered the garage. Instead of being the normal size, the room was about twice as long as it should have been. That mere detail, though, was not what drew their attention in a way that makes one hold and then release a single, awe struck breath. The thing receiving such amazed scrutiny was what took up most of the space, and extended length of the room.

This magnificent object was sleek, painted black, but polished to a finish that made it shine and appear to ripple like molten silver. Wings folded and trailed alongside its main body like an insect at rest stood a machine that few among the rescue party recognised. A small drawing on each side near the front depicting a pouncing big cat and five letters written in white on the side adorned the otherwise all black visage of a relatively small muggle aeroplane.

"Harry, why do you have an aeroplane in your garage? And how did you get the room expanded? Wouldn't the ministry detect you? How did you get away with this? What do you plan to do? What's this plane got to do with getting out of here? You can't seriously-"

"One thing at a time, Hermione. I have it in my garage because it's how I'm getting out of here. Dobby did it for me, turns out the ministry only detected him back before second year because he mimicked my magical signature enough to set the detectors off. And yes I can. Also, yes, I am doing."

Hermione, not used to being cut off just glared at him. Before she could engage in another tirade of questioning, Ron came to the rescue;

"Blimey, Harry! That thing is seriously cool looking! It can't be better than your broom though?"

At this, a small smirk appeared on Harry's face.

"Ron, my Firebolt has a top speed of 150 miles per hour. Remember that the Firebolt is the fastest broom in the world right now, yeah?"

"Yeah, so it has to be faster than this, what did Hermione just say, airy lane?"

"Yes, if this was just a normal aeroplane Ron it would be faster, but not by much."

"Then why don't you just-"

"But this is not a muggle plane Ron, It's been magically enhanced. It's now 100 miles an hour faster than my firebolt."

"Magically… 250 miles an hour? No way! It's too big to go that fast!"

"Ron, this is many times smaller than the biggest muggle aeroplanes, and those will do 500 miles an hour. This is a De-Havilland Leopard Moth, and it was bought and enhanced by my great grandfather 60 years ago. You know the box I got on my 16th birthday? That was a training pensive, it taught me all about how to fly this and I got chance to use it this summer rather than think about… about Dumbledore's… death."

"That still doesn't-"

"-explain how"

"-and what"

"-you have it for."

Fred and George Weasley joined the verbal fray with typical synchronised and handed off delivery.

"How, and what? As a safe means of getting out of this place for good. Dobby bought it here for me from my family's storage vault at Gringotts. I know about it because of the training pensive, that was sent me because I am now the 'head' of the Potter family, had my parents… been around they would have decided what I learned about… but they're not so it got sent automatically when I was deemed old enough by family rules to know about this."

Arthur Weasley now chimed in

"Amazing! An actual airy plane! You have to tell me, how does one fly without magic? Oh and you're okay with the law, there's nothing against enhancing something to do what it's supposed to! I have so many questions!"

"Err… right. I'll answer your questions when we have time Mr Weasley, I think we'd better get going, Mad-eye's looking, well, a bit mad."

"Damn right, Potter. We're wasting time yakking. How is THIS" here he gesticulated at the plane "Meant to get us out of here?"

"Easy, Mad-eye. Most of you can simply apparate away. Maybe take an indirect route to your destination so you can't be traced and followed? Four people come with me and provide wand protection, you can shoot through the windows at the back, sides, and top if needed. Then we simply out run Riddle and the Death Eaters, and catch whatever portkey we were going to in the first place."

"Good idea with the apparition Potter. That's good practice remember, constant vigilance! I take it the inside is expanded?" Moody seemed a lot happier now

"Yes. Hagrid, if you want to come, you can put the motorbike in the baggage compartment, I know you wanted to take me away from here, but how about I help you out?" Harry opened a small door on behind the windows of the cabin, that promptly expanded enough to easily fit the massive motorbike Hagrid had arrived on inside. "Mad-eye, Tonks, and Kingsley, would you like to complete the crew?" Here he crossed to the wall and pushed a small electric button. The automatic door opener that his aunt and uncle had been so proud of owning sprang to life and the door opened.

"Yeah, Harry It'd be ma pleasure." This said, Hagrid went outside to retrieve the motorbike from outside on the kerb.

"Harry you'd better know what you're doing. Honestly you worry me with this plan but I see there's no changing your mind. I'll see you later then. Be careful!" Hermione enveloped Harry in a crushing hug, then apparated away.

"Later"

"-Flyboy" The twins departed.

"Mate I really want you to show me what this thing will do once we've kicked you-know-who's ass, take care!" Ron left.

"Good look Harry." Mr Weasley followed his youngest son, still seemingly awe struck to have seen a real muggle flying machine.

"Au Revoir"

"Bye Harry" Fleur and Bill took their leave.

The remaining order members all left in a similar fashion, leaving only Harry, Hagrid, Mad-eye, Tonks, and Kingsley Shacklebolt in the garage at 4 Privet Drive. With only one hand Hagrid picked up the massive motorcycle and deposited it into the equally expansive baggage compartment of the aeroplane. Harry opened the door to the cabin and climbed in, the other four followed his example and boarded the plane. Without talking Harry took the Pilot's seat at the controls of the aircraft then called out;

"Please sit down, the seat belts will automatically fasten when I start the engine." After a glance back t make sure all his passengers were sitting in the seats provided for them, he reached down and grasped a small wooden handle on the floor of the cockpit.

The plane began to silently taxi forward, powered for now purely by enchantments for ground movement. Once the plane was out on the road, Harry turned the nose of the plane to face down the middle of the road, and slid a bolt atop his instrument panel across and latched it down. The wings extended on their own, like a bird preparing to take flight. Then he slid the bright red lever labelled 'FUEL' to on, and hit the starter button.

The engine sprang to life with a purposeful roar. Harry put one hand on the throttle lever, and the engine smoothed out into a rhythmic tick over. Harry waited about 30 seconds for the magically enhanced engine to warm up, then pulled the wooden handle straight up.

Exactly like a well constructed broom the Leopard Moth levitated itself straight upwards. As the aeroplane cleared the level of the tree and roof tops Harry smoothly moved the throttle to full power, and the aeroplane shot forward, accelerating as well, if not better, than his Firebolt. A small dial marked 'airspeed' wound up, and as it passed 40 Harry changed his hand from on the wooden floor handle to the control column that was originally built in to control the aircraft the muggle way.

Waiting just outside the immediate area of effect of the blood protections still on 4 Privet Drive, the thirty or so death eaters on brooms were totally unprepared when the aeroplane streaked past their ranks. From the windows of the Leopard Moth's cabin, the three Aurors on board took the chance to fire stunning spells at the masked magical terrorists as they flashed by at a speed which no broom could possibly match (and would not match for another 45 years).

The results of this were threefold; firstly no death eater managed to fire off a spell at the passing aeroplane in time to even vaguely endanger it and its occupants. Secondly, Messrs. Walden McNair, Rudolphus Lestrange and Rabastan Lestrange began to plummet unconscious to their doom. None of the three could be caught in time to save them thanks to the inky darkness of night time.

The third and final direct result of this was that Lord Voldemort got very angry. Floating in midair about a mile from his forces, he let a cry of rage escape his lips. After a mere second's pause he apparated in mid-air, right into the path of Harry's aeroplane, just about ten seconds flying time ahead of it.

Unknown to Voldemort, Harry's wand, that was currently inserted into where the security key would have gone in the instrument panel glowed golden. As the sickly green beam sped from the dark lord's wand towards his target, a golden beam shot from the centre of the propeller at the frnt of the aircraft. The wand that the dark lord had borrowed from Lucius Malfoy exploded violently and Lord Voldemort was thrown out of the way just in time to avoid being eviscerated by the flying machine as it tore on through the night.

Wounded and burned, and realising despite his rage that he could not catch his quarry, Lord Voldemort apparated away, returning to Malfoy manor to plot the next action in his quest to kill Harry Potter and ultimately rule supreme over the magical world.


End file.
